N3twork Is a #Hashtag-centric ‘Internet of Interests’ for iPhone and iPad

Neil Young, the co-founder and CEO of a startup called N3twork, isn’t unreservedly in love with the web. He says that it isn’t organized in a way that maps to the human brain, is too hard to search and isn’t designed for modern devices. He also isn’t afraid of big challenges: His company aims to fix everything that’s wrong with the web with a new app for the iPhone and iPad that’s neatly organized by topic and populated with content shared by real people. He calls the concept the “Internet of Interests.” N3twork (you’ve already surmised that the “3″ is pronounced like an “E”) is launching today in a sort of semi-closed beta. Anyone can download it from the App Store and peruse a generic feed of content that members are posting. But in order to fully participate, you’ll need to apply for an invite, which the company says it’ll fulfill as swiftly as possible. Young — formerly of mobile game developer Ngmoco, and not the Neil Young who’s currently working on a music player — recently previewed the app for me and provided me with an early-access version. I haven’t seen anything else that’s based on exactly the same idea as N3twork, but aspects of it remind me of a number of other services. It feels a little like a more group-oriented Pinterest, or a Twitter in which hashtags are mandatory. Because it’s topic-driven, you might use it for stuff you’d otherwise do in Facebook‘s Groups or as a Flipboard magazine. It also made me think of two defunct services: Clipboard and Chime.in. The app is built around subject-specific channels with hashtags for names: #CARS, #INTERIORDESIGN, #FUNNY, #GREATOUTDOORS, #LEICA and anything else a member decides to create. Every channel is collaborative, since anyone can contribute to it. Each post can consist of up to three items: photos, videos and/or links to web pages, all of which you can grab using a built-in web browser. And there are Facebook-like options for commenting on items, liking them and reposting them. I